IMO, Sasha's edges need work both in terms of overall depth and security, but she also shows amazing edge control on many moves such as her catch-foot turning slide spiral and the change to the deep inside edge on her flying camel, to name just two. I actually think her edges got less secure with the coaching change to Tarasova. I don't know if it was because Tarasova was emphasizing other things or if in trying to learn a whole new way of training, Sasha experienced what often happens to athletes with a coaching change. I've talked about the decrease in muscle mass before and hopefully the proposed increase in off-ice training and integration of what Cohen has learned from Tarasova will have a noticable effect. Unless of course Tarasova is spending too much time working on artistry and not enough time on technique. Time will tell. But I hope Sasha improves her blade skills because in terms of line, fluidity, and quality of movement, she is a unique and beautiful skater.
As for the 180-degree split on her spiral, I love it. Of course it's not just the split, it's the arch of the back, the turnout of the free leg from the hip, the pointed toe, the extension (and I mean extension as in S-T-R-E-T-C-H), and the whole quality of the move. I loved Nicole Bobek's 180-spiral and I love Sasha's. I also love the spirals of Michelle, Yuka, Irina (when she doesn't rush them
), and a number of other skaters, though of course for different reasons. In his prime, Paul Wylie had one of the most beautiful spirals I've ever seen.
With regard to the amplitude of Sasha's spiral (forgetting edges for the moment), I admit this is bad to ask, but I do wonder if some people don't like the 180-degree spiral position itself or if what they really don't like is the 180-degree spiral position on Sasha. It's no secret that a lot of skating fans do not like Sasha's personality, which is of course their right. And it doesn't make any difference if you don't like Sasha as a person, unless you're a judge and any negative feelings about Sasha as a person affect the way you perceive her skating. I would never ask anyone to answer this, but just as a rhetorical question, would the people who find a 180-degree spiral strange-looking feel the same if Michelle were doing it?
I know, only second day back and starting trouble already
Seriously, I don't want to start any Michelle/Sasha battles. In fact the question of whether one's feelings about a skater's personality affects one's perception of the skating is one that could apply to any skater. It might even make an interesting thread topic
As for me, I'll take Sasha's free leg on her spiral straight up, thank you, though I would like more speed and deeper edging. As Mzheng pointed out, the higher the free leg, the more difficult it is to hold a deep edge because of the change in the center of gravity, especially a FIE. I couldn't find them, but there are a couple of photos of Irina and Michelle doing their FIE spiral with the edge at a good 45-degree angle or less to the ice. But you also see, especially on Irina, the free leg out to the side (abducted). Not so much on Michelle. To get a really deep FIE on a spiral and keep the free leg directly behind the hip, especially at greater amplitudes, is incredibly difficult to do without falling over. But then great attention to spirals in skating has only been around for about 10 years. I expect that as skaters find out how much the details of their spiral affect their total in the COP we will see either better coaching techniques for deep edged, high speed, great extension, great amplitude spirals or else we will see less emphasis on spirals. After the COP was changed in gymnastics to greatly reward front tumbling we started seeing almost no back tumbling in the floor routines and a lot less on the beam. Even though I find most of the back tumbling moves more aesthetically pleasing to watch, it's a biomechanical fact that front tumbling is more difficult to do. How the COP affects skating, including spirals, remains to be seen, but I bet it will be very interesting!
Rgirl, Ecumenical Spiral Lover
Rgirl
